stupid yeast question

hey, I read a lot on here about needing starters, and liquid yeast, etc... I have always just bought kits, and sprinkled the dry yeast packet over my wort, let it sit for 10 minutes, then stir it in, just like the instructions say. This sounds a lot more simple than what I have read, but it's worked so far. Should I be doing this differently? If so, why?

That is fine for dry yeast. If you end up using liquid yeast, then I would take a few moments to read up on making starters.

If you are getting fast and clean fermentation, why mess with what works? When using dry yeast you shouldn't have any need to use a starter. Starters are primarily used when working with liquid yeast, or recycled yeast from a previous batch when the count is lower than ideal. Starters are also good to "proof" your yeast to ensure that it is healthy before adding it to your batch. When using dry yeast though simply sprinkle it in dry like you have been doing, or look into rehydrating the yeast first. Some folks are big advicates of rehydrating their yeast, others say there is no need to. When I use dry yeast I just sprinkle it on top and have always had great results without bothering to rehydrate.

Your technique does work for dry yeasts and many brewers do it this way. However, most people would suggest rehydrating dry yeast which is basically boiling about 2 cups of water, letting it cool to about 100F and adding the yeast packet and letting it sit for about 30minutes to 1 hour. This is to help the yeast prepare for the relatively high gravity wort they are about to be put into. The idea is that when added dry to the wort it is not easy for the yeast to rehydrate themselves when they are in a liquid with such an osmotic graident. By utilizing this technique your are setting the yeast up for better fermentation with hopefully less off flavors produced.

However, like I said, many people simply sprinkle it on top dry and let it be or will mix it in. I can't claim that one works better than the other just what I've read.

Like KillerKellers said you do not need a starter for dry yeasts and you don't HAVE to have one for liquid yeasts unless you are making a high gravity beer. Hope that helps.

ok, so since this dry yeast seems so easy (no starter, easy to store until brewing day, etc) why do so many people use liquids? Is there a distinct advantage?

One of the advantages of liquid yeast is that there are more varieties available and are more specific to style. For example I recently brewed Ed Worts Hefewizen and a Siason and these recipes call for Wyeast 3068and 3274 respectively. 3068 will offers the Banana and Clove tastes that are specific to Heffe's and 3274 Spicy and complex aromatics including bubble gum and slight fruit specific to Saison

I have had a lot of issues using liquid without a starter even though the smack packs claim not to need one.

Starters really are very easy to make, so if using liquid... its well worth the time to make one. I usually just do 1cup of DME added to 1qt of water (bring water to boil, add DME, return to boil for 5 minutes or so, then cool it down to pitching temps).

I usually do this the day or 2 before, and leave it in a growler on the counter. I got the kids and woman trained to "swirl it" whenever they walk by =)

I agree with what Zman said. Liquid yeasts come in more variety and certain styles of beer require a very specific strain of yeast, hefes, kolsch, Belgians, etc. These styles of beer could not be made otherwise. From what I have heard the dry yeast strains use to be far inferior to liquid yeast but this is not true anymore except for the limitation on variety.

Below is a link with some helpful dry to liquid yeast strain comparisons. The most popular strains are Nottinham, Safale S-04 and Safale S-05. I have used the Safale 05 for the last 3 ferments I've done and they have turned out to be exceptional and better than the ferments I did with liquid yeast. I don't think the dry yeast did a better job I think it did as good as the liquid yeast but I had better temperature by moving into the basement for fermentation.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/dry-yeast-liquid-yeast-equivalents-114424/